Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I love yarn. As a knitter, I'm addicted to buying various colors & types of yarn before I even really know what I'm going to make with it. I stumbled upon THIS tutorial on making yarn wreaths and instantly knew what my next project would be. {and I'm sad to admit that I am now addicted to making Yarn Wreaths}. Now I have a few less skeins of yarn in my bin (and I've put some of the left-over felt from the costumes project to good use, too).

Materials Used:

Wreath (I used one similar to this) - there are several sizes available. I used the 18 in because I wanted to make a wreath for my front door

Yarn - depending on the type you use (medium vs. bulky) and the size of wreath you use, you may need more than 1 skein. I used 1.5 skeins for my wreaths

Felt squares in various colors (the $.25 kind)

Scissors

A gazillion push pins (or you could use a glue gun)

Thimble (for use with push pins. My nails took a beating after a while!)

How To:

I followed the tutorial from the Take Heart site and completed each wreath in a couple of hours. I opted for the push pins (vs. the glue gun) because I felt it would keep the flowers on a bit sturdier.

Here is my fall wreath:

Here is the one I made for my blog co-author Jenn:

For the holiday wreath I used a bit different technique for the flowers. Instead of cutting roses I cut a gazillion circles and pinned them on similar to the tutorial here.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Remember the Simple Reward Chart? Well, we finally put it to work at the Murray household. But--I need to put it up somewhere, I knew I wanted it in the playroom vs. bathroom since this was to be used for good behavior as well potty training.

I was inspired by Ana White's Clip Art Rails but wanted something a bit sturdier since my boys are climbing the walls these days. I definitely wanted clips over hooks for future use.

My supplies were quick, easy, and cheap. I went to Lowe's in search of a piece of scrap wood and stumbled across this piece of wood that did not require cutting and was priced under $2. The clips, which I now know are called Alligator clips, I bought at Office Depot for $.61 for all 3. Gorilla Glue and spray paint I already had on hand.

Again, I failed to take photos during the process, but this is super simple. I painted the wood. Dirtied it up with some watered down brown paint. Glued on clips (even though they're magnetic) with hot glue. Huh--just noticed that I did not even need Gorilla Glue. Whoops!

Here's the finished product. I used 3 clips even though I only ever intend to use two, but I think things look better in groups of 3. :)